Not Giving Up!
by D'Fuentes
Summary: How determined is Leonardo?


_Suffering from laziness...well a 'New form of Writer's Block'... the 'Lazy-I don't want to go to an internet cafe-Block'_..._my mobile cell is co-operative today...meh._

_On with it._

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><p>The earth trembled beneath their feet, shifting the dirt and tumbling the pebbles with a strained angry groan as the ground cracked under the force of the exerted core. The cracks traveled at the speed of light, spreading spidery veins across the ground that mocked the behavior of lightning striking down from the sky. They split into deep wide caverns that glowed red like cuts made into soft flesh, revealing the rising magma that threatened to bleed upon the earth.<p>

A deep growl escaped from the crevices, expelling hot acrid vapors into the air like belches that removed foul gaseous mixtures from a poisoned lung. Between the shaking earth that racked through the bones in his feet, and the vapors that scorched down his throat, Leonardo sawed at the metal claws that dug their way into their victim's flesh, drawing fresh blood which coated the glistening copper with streams of crimson. The thick fluid trickled down slowly between the maze of engraved runes, and pulsed with each tide of the girl's beating heart.

He cursed under a sweating brow as he watched the blade in his hands grow dull against the strange copper metal, which continued to coil, tighten around Ayame's torso, once and for all cracking one of her already bruised ribs. Her skin grew pallid and she threw back her head as a scream pealed from her mouth, piercing his eardrum. He winced at the sound and began hacking at the retched claws that won't yield to his attacks. An unseen forced buzzed against his scaly skin, and ran up his marred green fingers before settling into his knuckles as if to say 'give up'.

He couldn't. He kept at it, even as the runes glowed orange beneath the blood, blinking in an alternating pattern that seemed to move away from the girl's form towards the top of the massive hooked tower that hung over their heads. The tower, like the claws that grew out of it, was scarred with runes etched into its copper-like surface, and it looked down upon them like a bowed god that cared none for the earth upon which it stood. The blue-masked turtle scowled in trepidation. How was he supposed to defeat this thing?

Ayame's scream halted when her lungs no longer had the power to support her cry, and they went into a fit, causing her to breathe haggardly. Salted tears meandered effortlessly down her cheeks, taking away the dirt and dried blood that concealed her reddened cheeks, and left vertical streak marks on her face. Blinking once or twice against the pain, she looked down at Leonardo's raw hands that maintained their sawing and hacking motion with a useless blade.

She drew in a deep shuddering breath and spoke. "Leonardo-san?" Her words came out almost whispered upon a soft sand-papered voice. The turtle looked up at her face of suffering and shook his head violently as if he was trying to block her from speaking.

"No," he grunted in rebellion, "I will not give up." His statement was adamant as was his determination. The rough surface created tremors in his arms with every stroke he made with the sword, and plucked at the fibers of his muscles while the ground beneath their feet constantly made attempts to throw him off his balance with its uproarious grumbling. He dug his toes into the rocky ground for traction, slicing off pieces of flesh against the jagged rocks in the process. There was nothing he could do about losing the protective calluses that formed beneath his feet over the years, but hope that they would return in the future. It was a price to pay for not wearing shoes. He gritted his teeth from the edge created by both irritations.

Ayame rolled her head to one side, blinking under a curtain of heavy lids before focusing her soul-diving gaze on him. "You cannot prevent this, Leonardo-san," she told him, "It is what it is. Stop what you are doing, and save your family for you cannot save mine. This is our destiny. This is what must be. There is no undoing it." Her voice, though hoarse, was nothing more than a whisper, but the words were pronounced with force. Her dark eyes were even and unchallenged, driving the words into his soul.

With great effort he denied them. "No!" he snapped, and hacked at the claws in rage. "I will not stand by and watch you die. None of you," he ground his teeth into each declaration, "I will not give up until you are free!" He cast a glance at her other family members who were caught in the same manner at the base of three other leaning towers. His siblings and friends were trying to save them just as he was trying to rescue her from the death-grasp. Returning his eyes to her, he said, "You cannot die like this -"

His sentence was severed midway when the Asian girl reproached, "But I must! We must. It is the only way you can live," she looked around at the others, and then up at the burning skies. Golden sparks of energy stretched sporadically above, linking the four towers to one another at brief moments before traveling down at the center in one streaming burst. The earth shook like a rattled bell as if the heart itself was struck by electricity. "It is the only way all can be saved," she continued; more tears streaming down her face, "We have to do this, do you not see?" The statement evoked her resignation. Her face showed nothing but resolution and bravery. This, Leonardo knew, was her acceptance of her fate.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Leonardo howled angrily at the wind. "No, I do not see! Call me blind if you wish, but I will not let you die! We will find another way to save the world," he said firmly, drawing upon every ounce of strength remaining in his body to drill his convincing utterances into the girl, "I am not about to give up, we will beat this!" His statement terminated into a growl that even he was convinced.

He looked into her eyes in search for the change in her heart only to see her face contort, and take on a heated color. Surprised by her expression, he looked down and saw the claws constrict against her body. Another crack was heard as the fractured rib finally shattered, forcing a chilling scream out from the girl's lips. Her head leaned back to a point it couldn't go anymore, and the veins in her long neck rose beneath her skin like snakes rising out of a flooded den. The shriek caused him to shudder like he has never done before, numbing out the effects of the quaking earth. He bit back on the bile rising in his throat, calling on his Master's deceased Sensei to free them of their terror and to infuse him with hope and conviction. He was not giving up.

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><p><em>I do have writer's block. Writing random stuff helps. This is based on 'The Oroku Saki Empire' (Not liking it anymore...) <em>

_I think I write better in third person._

_I only own 'Yams'. (My O.C.)_

_What do you think?_


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